Friendly’s is making news for the new addition to their menu – The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Burger Melt which is “A Big Beef burger between two hot grilled cheese sandwiches, with lettuce, tomato and mayo”. I read one article on CBS News that stated it was 1,160 calories which I knew had to be incorrect. I decided to check their site to see how many calories it really has. Friendly’s nutrition chart states that their Ultimate Grilled Cheese Burger Melt is filled with 1500 calories. This number seems way off since their grilled cheese sandwich is 800 calories alone. I just wrote them to find out if this is a mistake or how they got to the 1500 calories number. Below is my letter to them. I’ll follow up when I get a response.

Email to Friendly’s:
I noticed your ultimate grilled cheese burgermelt is supposed to have 1500 calories however your grilled cheese alone has 800 calories. Simple math tells me the “bun” (ie 2 grilled cheese sandwiches) alone would be 1600 calories which would put this sandwich closer to say 2,000 calories when you throw in the burger and condiments. Is this an oversight on your part or is there something I am missing?

Friendly’s Grilled Cheese Calories

Friendly’s Ultimate Grilled Cheese Burgermelt Calories:

Surprise surprise, the EPA is trying to now ban the insecticide Endosulfan (a chemical cousin of DDT). According to the CNN article, this insecticide has been in use since 1954 and is used on a variety of crops including apples, cherries, peaches, potatoes, grapes, barley, oats, tobacco, cotton and wheat.

Entire Article

1 – Take off your shoes
2 – Filter your water with a carbon filter
3 – Buy produce/meat/dairy without antibiotics and without growth hormones
4 – Open windows whenever possible as indoor air may be less polluted than outdoor air

Children exposed to higher levels of a type of pesticide found in trace amounts on commercially grown fruit and vegetables are more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder than children with less exposure, a nationwide study suggests.

Read Entire Article

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I’ve thought abut running a half marathon more and more recently. Last year I lost 35 lbs in the spring time during our biggest loser competition at work by running A LOT! I’ve not been running much lately but would really like to set a half marathon goal for myself to see if I can accomplish it.

One of the few major local half marathons is in a little over 10 weeks and I just found a 10 week training guide for half marathons. There are 2 slight problems
1 – Motivating myself to run 3 – 4 times per week for the next 10 weeks in the COLD.
2 – The half marathon is scheduled for the 21st of March which is just a few days before my wife’s due date.

I do have a Y membership but getting myself to the Y seems even more daunting as I would have to actually set time aside for myself to do that and I’m horrible with time management. The 2nd problem would only be an issue if she has the baby before / during the half marathon.

Monday will be the first day of training and I’m hoping posting this on my blog will motivate me a little more to actually try to run my first half marathon!

I just read in the news that Chrysler will double the federal government’s cash for clunkers vouchers starting Thursday. Best of all, even if your car does not qualify for the government’s voucher, the Chrysler offer will apply to any buyer regardless of the age and fuel economy of the trade-in vehicle. In other words, if you pick the right car and already qualify for the government’s vourcher you could get up to $9,000 off a new Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge.

2010 Dodge Caliber Combined MPG- 26 MSRP - $17,090	2010 Dodge Journey 2WD Combined MPG - 21 MSRP - $21,600
2010 Jeep Patriot 2WD Combined MPG - 25 MSRP -$18,170	2010 Jeep Compass 2WD Combined MPG - 25 MSRP - $19,095

I recently wrote about my experience with renting a car / car seat from Thrifty.  After sending them an email telling them of the many problems I had, here is what they wrote:

Dear Mr. Kahn,

Sincerely,
Customer Service Representative

This makes my wallet feel better but does not completely solve the problem.  There is no excuse for car rental companies stocking outdated car seats with missing parts.  If they are charging a $7 – $10 per day premium for a rental fee those seats should be at least as new as the rental cars.

My wife and I recently stayed at the Hotel Hershey in Hershey, PA to celebrate her 30th birthday. I booked the trip a few months back and when I was booking it I noticed a new restaurant was opening the week before we arrived. The restaurant was called Harvest and it sounded right up our alley in terms of a place we would enjoy. Below is a description of the restaurant along with a letter that is found on the inside of their menu and my review of the restaurant.

Harvest’s Description on the Hotel Hershey’s Page:
Located at The Hotel Hershey, Harvest offers genuine American cuisine made from the freshest local and regional ingredients. The menu features an innovative selection of both classic and traditional American fare served during lunch and dinner, with daily specials.

Letter from the Executive Chef in the Menu
From farm to table, we offer the freshest dishes prepared from local ingredients found within
a 100-mile radius of The Hotel Hershey. Our culinary team welcomes you and your family to experience just how good genuine American cuisine can be, especially when it’s locally sourced, creatively presented, and enjoyed in a casual ambiance. Our concept of genuine American cuisine features a range of authentic dishes found across the country. From the Southeastern Coast to the Pacific Northwest, the experience and various backgrounds of our Chefs gives us the unique ability to recreate signature American dishes.

And at Harvest, we create those dishes using the freshest local ingredients grown right here in
Pennsylvania. We’re proud of our new restaurant and the fact that we’re leaving a smaller environmental footprint while working closely with the Lancaster Farmers Co-Op. Some of our local growers also include Creekside Farms of Perry County, Adams County Apples in Biglerville, Groffs Meats from Elizabethtown, Willis W. Gibbel Farms in Brunnersville, Longs Farm from Lancaster County, Todd Farm in Nottingham, and Green Meadow Farm from Lancaster.

We also serve “filtered water” to provide the freshest, most pristine, and purest water available.
Above all, we’re focused on preparing a delicious meal for you and your family to enjoy while
in Hershey. Thank you for visiting Harvest.

Review of Harvest Restaurant at the Hotel Hershey
We made reservations as soon as we arrived at the Hotel but I would recommend you make them before arriving. The place is relatively small and there is limited seating. With the reservation we only had to wait about a minute before our table was ready.

Decor – 2 1/2 Stars
Their atmosphere is warm & cozy but incomplete. They have yet to come up with a unified table centerpiece (ie flowers, candles, etc) and their are a few obvious art paintings missing from the wall. I don’t fault them for this though as they did just open a week ago and I’m sure there are bound to be glitches in the first few weeks.  I heard that  they were considering putting potted herbs on the tables but when we arrived the first night there wasn’t anything on our table.

Food – 3 Stars
The food was delicious however there were some things that could have been better. The fingerling potatoes with cheddar cheese, sour cream, jalepenos, bacon bits and scallions was by far my favorite part of the meal. Each ingredient worked well with the other and how can you go wrong with fries / cheese and bacon bits?  My chicken was perfectly cooked, tasted fresh and was nicely paired with goat cheese grits (something I would have never thought to pair with chicken).  The peach pie we ordered for dessert was very tasty but luke warm and would have tasted much better if it had been warm-hot.  I really enjoyed knowing that the ingredients were all local to the PA area.

Service – 3 Stars
The wait staff seemed extremely new at their jobs (most of them) but friendly and helpful.  Although they were new at their jobs, they still did a great job and were attentive. It took a long time for us to receive our dinner however I know they were pretty busy the day we went as we were unable, at first, to get a reservation due to them being overbooked.

Cost – 3 Stars
I believe their prices are relatively reasonable for an upscale restaurant. The appetizers averaged around $10, burgers & sandwiches were around $12 – $13 and dinner entrees ranged from $19 – $28. Here is a link to their current lunch and dinner menus.

Conclusion
When we go back to the Hotel Hershey in the future we will definitely go back. I may be slightly biased about the restaurant as I really like what they are trying to do with only offering foods that are  local to that area.